The Opportunity and Peril of Smart Grid

Last year witnessed “the smart grid” going from an arcane concept about updating the electric distribution system to a full-fledged public policy priority. The Obama Administration views the deployment of smart grid technologies as a linchpin to achieving its new energy economy objectives. These goals include: lowering energy costs for consumers, achieving energy independence, promoting clean and green technologies, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. To that end, Congress allocated approximately $4 billion in stimulus grants and loans to smart grid deployments and tasked the National Institute for Standards and Technology (“NIST”) to develop smart grid interoperability standards...